Indemnity to principals
Indemnity to principals provisions in contractor’s insurance policies provide cover for the client (the principal) in the event that the contractor is negligent and this results in a claim against the client. This may be a requirement of a construction contract, and contractors must check with their insurers that their policy include this sort of provision for the type of project that they are undertaking.
The requirement may be satisfied by a separate indemnity, or by extending the contractor’s own policy to indemnify the principal as if they were the insured, in which case, the policy will pay out if a claim is made against the principal as a result of work carried out by the contractor, as if the claim was being made against the contractor themselves.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
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- Contract works insurance.
- Directors and officers insurance.
- Employers’ liability insurance
- Flood insurance.
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- Integrated project insurance.
- Latent defects insurance.
- Legal indemnities.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance.
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